Linguine Pescatore #FishFridayFoodies

Linguine Pecatore or fisherman’s linguine features shrimp, squid, scallops, clams and mussels in a fresh tomato sauce tossed with pasta. This delicious main course is as fragrant as it is delicious. Squeeze on a little lemon juice for a bright, flavorful mouthful!

Several years ago I had the good fortune to accompany my husband on a business trip to Italy. We landed in Bologna and took a train up to Venice for a couple of days of holiday before renting a car and driving south down the east coast to Ravenna for the business meetings.

One evening while in Venice, we happened upon a little trattoria with just a few tables down a back alley. We ordered the pasta pescatore, a dish made for two and a specialty of the house. It was so good that sometimes I even eat it in my dreams. This is my recreation of my memory of that dish. I’m not sure anything can live up to seafood eaten on a wonderful Venetian holiday, right near the sea, but this comes close.

Linguine Pescatore

For this dish, I used a pack of frozen mixed seafood that included raw shrimp, squid and scallops as well as cooked green mussels, in addition to fresh shrimp and live clams. Substitute your favorite seafood. If you can’t find flavorful ripe tomatoes, by all means use canned Italian tomatoes. In a dish this simple, good tomatoes make a huge difference.

Ingredients
3 vine-ripen tomatoes (about 3 cups, chopped)
4 Tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, peeled and minced
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
10 cleaned clams
1/2 cup or 120ml dry white wine
1 1/2 cups or 180ml seafood stock
1 lb or 450g frozen raw mixed seafood, thawed
12oz or 340g fresh shrimp, (about 10 large 13/15 count/lb) peeled and cleaned
Small bunch fresh parsley, chopped (reserve a little for serving)
Black pepper
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper or to taste
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt
1 lb or 450g linguine or your pasta of choice

To serve:
Chopped parsley
Juice of half a lemon

Method
Core and chop the tomatoes and set them aside, being sure to catch and save any of the lovely juice that runs out.

Peel and mince your onion and garlic. In a large saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil until they are softened. Be careful not to let them brown.

Add the wine and seafood stock and bring to a boil, then add the clams and cook, covered, till they open, about 4-6 minutes.

Discard any clams that did not open. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the rest of the clams into a bowl and set them aside. I had a three that I thought I was going to have to toss out but finally, at six minutes, they sprung open! It was a tense minute or two while I regretted only buying 10 and no spares.

Add the tomatoes and juice to the pan, along with the parsley, a few good grinds of black pepper and crushed red pepper.

Cook until the tomatoes soften but are still nice and brightly red, about 8-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, put a large pot of water on to boil for the pasta, with a couple of teaspoons of salt.

Add the rest of the seafood to the saucepan and simmer until they are cooked and/or warmed through, in the case of the frozen mix.

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until just before al dente. For instance, if the package says cook till al dente for 10 minutes, set your timer for nine. Drain well and put the pasta back in the pot. Pour the sauce on, adding the clams back in as you do. Toss it gently. Put the lid on and leave the linguine to finish cooking in the sauce for just a few minutes.

Taste for salt and add more if needed. (Mine did not.) Serve with a generous squeeze of fresh lemon juice and parsley to garnish. You can, of course, serve it directly from the pasta pot. I only transferred mine back into the saucepan for photos.

Enjoy!

This month in my Fish Friday Foodies group, we are all sharing Mediterranean recipes. Many thanks to our Fish Friday host Sue of Palatable Pastime and group doyenne, Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm.

• Baccala Soup from Palatable Pastime
• Seafood Paella from Making Miracles
• Greek Seafood Rice from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Greek Bronzini Pan-fried Paleo Dish from Of Goats and Greens
• Zarzuela de Marisco from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Linguine Pescatore from Food Lust People Love
• Moroccan Chermoula Baked Fish Fillet for One from Sneha's Recipe
• Coquilles St Jacques from Caroline's Cooking
• Mediterranean Shrimp from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.

Pin this Linguine Pescatore!

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Fudgy Flourless Chocolate Bundt #BundtBakers

This fudgy flourless chocolate Bundt is so tender and moist, it’s almost like a very rich, firm baked pudding. Fudgy in flavor, light in texture. Made with only five ingredients, it couldn’t be easier!

After all the baking and cooking that goes on during the holidays, our Bundt Bakers host, Patricia from Patty’s Cake chose to uncomplicate our lives by asking for Bundt recipes that need only five ingredients. Sounds simple, right? Piece of cake. This was a much harder challenge than I thought it would be!

I searched my archives and recipe files first to no avail when suddenly I remembered a Sunday Supper group event I had participated in almost six years ago. The theme was five ingredient (or less) recipes and I shared a beef bourguignon made with succulent short ribs, smoked bacon and dried mushrooms. OMG, it was so rich and delicious. (For that five ingredient or less challenge, salt and pepper didn’t count.)

Surely someone had made a cake I could bake in a Bundt pan! Turns out there was just one. Jane from Jane’s Adventures in Dinner shared a flourless chocolate cake. Score! Mine is adapted from hers. If you love little bakers in the kitchen, you'll appreciate Jane's helpers on that post. Adorable!

Fudgy Flourless Chocolate Bundt

If you’ve ever needed an easy dessert for gluten free friends and family who cannot do nuts, I can highly recommend this recipe. In Jane’s photos she added orange zest by accident and had to scoop it out as it was in violation of the five-ingredient rule. I couldn’t add it either for the same reason, but I think orange in this dark chocolate cake would be wonderful. As is, it is fabulous served alone or with vanilla or mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Ingredients
1 cup or 227g butter (plus more to liberally grease the Bundt pan)
1/4 cup or 22g cocoa powder (plus extra for dusting for the pan)
8 oz or 227g dark (semi-sweet) chocolate
5 eggs
1 cup or 200g sugar

Optional to serve: a sprinkling of icing sugar and/or ice cream

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 10-cup Bundt pan by liberally buttering it and then dusting it well with cocoa. Set aside.

Heat the dark chocolate and butter slowly in a double boiler or with short zaps in the microwave in a microwaveable bowl. Either way, stir frequently, until the chocolate is just melted.

Sift the cocoa into the sugar in a large bowl. Add the eggs and beat well.

Add the melted chocolate and butter to the egg mixture. Again beat well, until thoroughly combined.

Pour the batter into your prepared Bundt pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until it is just set.

It will fall a little as it cools, but don’t let that worry you. It just means a more dense, fudgy cake. All good!

Leave it to cool for about 10-15 minutes and then loosen the edges with a toothpick. Cover the top of the Bundt pan with the wire rack and invert the cake. If you've been trying to live your life right, it comes out intact. (Just kidding. :) It's actually dependent on how well you buttered and cocoa-ed the pan. But being a good human being can't hurt, right?)

Optional for serving, a light dusting of icing sugar. Or ice cream.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to Patricia of Patty’s Cake for hosting this month! Check out all the lovely five-ingredient Bundts we are sharing today.

• Chocolate Mayonnaise Bundt Cake by Patty’s Cake
• Easy Vanilla Bundt Cake by Making Miracles
• Five-Ingredient Blueberry Bundt Cake by Palatable Pastime
• 5 Ingredient Almond Butter Mini Bundts by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Fudgy Flourless Chocolate Bundt by Food Lust People Love
• Impossible 5 Ingredients Bundt by Sneha’s Recipe
• Melted Ice Cream Bundt Cake by All That’s Left Are The Crumbs
• Roasted Squash Brown Butter Bundt Cake by Patyco Candybar
• Strawberry Banana Bundt by Sweet Sensations

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers, can be found on our home page.

Pin this Fudgy Flourless Chocolate Bundt! 

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Artisan Sprouted Spelt Boule #BreadBakers

Hearty and flavorful, this artisan sprouted spelt boule bakes up with a crunchy crust and an airy yet chewy crumb. It is very forgiving if you like making dough ahead (which adds so much character and taste!) and baking another day.

One of my favorite things about belonging to food blogger groups is learning about new ingredients or techniques. This month Bread Bakers’ host is Sue of Palatable Pastime and she chose sprouted flour as our theme.

I had never heard of sprouted flour but Sue provided a couple of links to clarify. Apparently sprouted flour is made by allowing grains to germinate aka sprout. The results are then dried and ground into flour. The thought is that sprouted flours are more nutritious, because, according to the Penn State Extension website: “Carbohydrates are converted into simple sugars, proteins are broken down into amino acids, and fats are broken into the component fatty acids. These conversions make the food easier for the plant and humans to digest.”

That said, more study is needed to determine if it’s healthier or actually more digestible than regular flour. What I can tell you is that the sprouted spelt makes a lovely nutty tasting loaf and I am looking forward to using it again in other baked goods. Not only that but the folks at The Kitchn agree with me! You can learn more about sprouted flours there as well.

Artisan Sprouted Spelt Boule

My recipe is adapted from one of the One Degree Organics website, which was also the brand of sprouted spelt flour I used. My first attempt was completely flat and clearly had too much liquid. Rather than dialing back on the water for the second go, I decided to add more sprouted flour. Take two resulted in a wet sticky dough that could hold its shape a bit better when kneaded for a bit after the first rise. The original recipe could work better for a focaccia rather than a boule.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups or 355ml warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3 cups or 360g sprouted spelt flour
1 cup or 125g bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt

Essential equipment:
5.5 qt or 5.3L Dutch oven with ovenproof lid
Dough scraper

Method
Stir the sugar into the water to dissolve it, then sprinkle the yeast in as well. It’ll just float on the top but that’s fine. Set aside for five or so minutes. The yeast should start getting foamy, which means it has been activated and is alive.

Meanwhile in a large bowl, combine the flours and salt. When the yeast has proved, pour the mixture into the flour bowl and mix well.

It’s going to be quite a soft dough. Just make sure everything is completely blended. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl, making sure all the flour has been incorporated.

Cover the bowl with cling film or a damp teacloth. Let sit at room temperature for 8-12 hours. The longer the better, in my opinion. You can also pop the covered bowl in the refrigerator overnight, after the room temperature rise.

After the first rising time has elapsed, gently fold the dough over on itself in the bowl with a spatula and tip it out onto a well-floured work surface. Knead for several minutes, until the dough isn’t quite as sticky and you can form it, with the help of a dough scraper, into a ball.

Prepare a greased square of baking parchment on plate and transfer the ball onto it. The parchment isn’t strictly necessary but it will make transferring the risen dough to the Dutch oven easier later.

Cover with a loose towel or oiled cling film and let rise for 1-2 hours. If it’s cold at your house, like it is at mine right now, follow these instructions for proofing in the microwave. Because the rising environment is humid, you don’t have to cover the dough. Works a treat!

When your dough has almost doubled in size, preheat oven to 500°F or 260°C WITH THE COVERED DUTCH OVEN INSIDE.

It's such a soft dough that it spreads out as much as it does up!

Once the Dutch oven is fully heated and the dough is done rising, hold the edges of the parchment paper and carefully place the loaf inside. Cut a few slashes in the dough to allow it to rise further as it bakes and to give it a decorative finish. (I really need a sharper knife. My bread lame has gone missing in the move.)

Depending on your oven, let the bread bake with the lid of the Dutch oven ON for about 20-25 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. If you are a thermometer-using baker, fully baked, the boule should have an internal temperature of about 190°F or 88°C.

Remove the boule from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

Enjoy!

Check all of the other sprouted flour recipes my Bread Baker friends are sharing today! Many thanks to Sue of Palatable Pastime for hosting!

• Artisan Sprouted Spelt Boule from Food Lust People Love
• Seeded Sprouted Wheat Loaf from A Messy Kitchen
• Sprouted Wheat Flour No Knead Bread from Cook with Renu
• Sprouted Wheat Green Chile Pretzel Braid from Amandie Bakes
• Sprouted Wheat Pain de Mie Sandwich Bread from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Sprouted Wheat Waffles from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sprouted Whole Wheat Flour Mini Rolls from Sneha's Recipe

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this artisan sprouted spelt boule!

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